The facts surrounding the Storey County Sheriff Budget

Kris Thompson, president of the Committee to Recall Sheriff Antinoro, suggests Sheriff Antinoro is mismanaging and squandering taxpayer dollars. In comments made to a local chat group, he made the following statement:

“Antinoro demanded a $1 million budget increase for this budget year and has cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in his department which is a human resources cesspool.”

We will deal with the “human resource cesspool” in a later post; we have interviewed a third of the employees in the department and will talk to a few more before reporting on the Human Resource issue.

This post deals with the budget and Sheriff Antinoro’s use of taxpayer dollars.

The specific claim above references the 2016-2017 budget Sheriff Antinoro submitted at the beginning of the budget cycle in early 2016. His proposed budget was indeed nearly a million dollars more than the number agreed upon after negotiations between the Comptroller’s Office, the County Manager the County Commissioners and the Sheriff’s Office.

To frame this request in the proper context, it is necessary consider the facts surrounding the “demand” of additional monies. Sheriff Antinoro discussed this topic directly with thestoreyteller.online’s in a podcast interview which can be heard here, but the basic facts are as follows: more police presence was requested to handle the influx of workers and traffic demands on the infrastructure at the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center (TRIC) by both TRIC and County officials. It costs roughly $ 150,000 a year to outfit and deploy a freshly minted deputy and with the scope of increased service requested, Sheriff Antinoro’s request seemed in line with the requested increase in service.

Additionally, the fleet of Sheriff vehicles is aging and motor vehicle equipment was a part of that request.

Both the expectation of service provided and the scope of the Sheriff budget was negotiated down to the level submitted and currently provided and being spent; $ 3,531,477. While 3.5 million dollars seems like a ton of money, we need to again consider that number in the context of both other counties and previous budgets.

Other Counties

Given that Lander County has a few more people (Lander 5,702, Storey 4,051) and a much greater area (Lander 5,490, Storey 263 square miles) Lander is a reasonable county to compare Storey to. Lander County’s Sheriff’s Office Budget we see that they spent $ 4,189,210 (combined jail and Sheriff operations like Storey County) in 2016. (We expect to flesh out this comparison to other counties but for deadline requirements and other pending articles in progress we are stopping here).

Previous Budgets

When we compare the budget of Sheriff Antinoro in his tenure (2010-2016) with his predecessor, Sheriff Jim Miller Jr, we get more clarity as to the kind of steward of taxpayer dollars Sheriff Antinoro is.

According to information obtained from the Sheriff via public records request, the following chart provides a visual comparison of the two Sheriffs and their budgets:

As you can see from the above data obtained from audited Storey County Budgets, Sheriff Antinoro’s most recent 2016-2017 budget remains less that the budgets Sheriff Miller submitted in 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 at the depth of the Recession. Sheriff Antinoro’s very first budget is 1.1 million dollars lessthan Sheriff Miller’s last budget.

On top of this, Sheriff Antinoro saved Storey County Taxpayers perhaps tens of millions of dollars by scrapping the proposed sprawling Jail and Sheriff Office complex that would house dozens and dozens of Storey County scofflaws under lock and key.

Sheriff Antinoro moved the Sheriff’s Office into the center of the community and is, alongside the District Attorney, accessible to all members of the community and visitors directly on C Street.

By injecting his office into the center of the community he reinforces the accessibility of his Office and supports his notion of Community Based Policing where his officers are an integral and approachable part of the community.

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2 comments

The graph is great and conveys everything at a glance. It is disappointing how County bias has influenced this budget, while officials also used it to attack the Sheriff for spending so much. It seems our Commissioners are willing to put the safety of the community at risk for political purposes. Our sheriff has done an excellent job managing his costs, especially compared to his predecessor’s budget, the increased needs of TRI, and inflation.